For Dipper
by Pan-Tastique
Summary: Sequel to "For Mabel".


After their last encounter with Bill, Mabel, Wendy and Soos had retreated to the Mystery Shack, where they were surprised to find several of their friends and other townspeople – including Stan.

"Grunkle Stan?" Mabel said, her voice filled with unbelief and a hint of delight.

"Mabel?" Stan replied, just as, if not more, awestruck as his niece.

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel repeated, running towards him and flinging her arms around his neck.

"Heh," Stan chuckled. "I'm glad to see you safe and sound, Mabel."

"So am I," Mabel laughed, hoping Stan hadn't noticed Dipper's – and, of course Ford's – absence.

But of course he had.

"Mabel, where's Dipper?" Stan asked carefully, as if he was afraid of the answer. "And Ford?"

"Taken by Bill," Mabel said. "Both of them. Grunkle Ford was taken by Bill when he was with Dipper – and Dipper made a deal with Bill..."

Stan's eyes grew wide. "What?" he said. "Ford getting taken honestly doesn't surprise me as much as it hurts me," he paused, "but Dipper of all people making another deal with that fancy nacho? What for this time?"

"For Mabel," Wendy said, noticing Mabel was having too much of a hard time to speak. "Bill had trapped Mabel in a bubble and Dipper bailed her out – by allowing himself to get trapped inside a bubble, too. Bill took him to his lair."

Stan sighed. "That kid's too good for us," he mumbled. "Well, I guess there's nothing we can do but go and break him out, right?"

Stan was rolling up his sleeves, when McGucket suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. "You should go look for your brother and the Gleeful kid, too," he said. "Only if the Cipher Wheel is complete, we can defeat Bill."

Stan swallowed. "About making time to get that Gleeful brat out of there, I'm not too sure," he said. "But I hope that it was darn obvious that I'm planning to get my entire family away from that yellow freak, whatever it takes."

McGucket's expression didn't change. "The Cipher Wheel's the only thing that can destroy Bill and end the Weirdpocalypse," he warned. "Don't forget what I told you, Stan."

Stan nodded; he had no idea who Fiddleford McGucket really was, but apparently he'd been a friend of Ford's – which meant he knew valuable information (if only he hadn't forgotten about eighty percent of it). Stan honestly didn't care much, but by now, he was willing to believe any theories related to Bill.

McGucket clearly had been digging around in his memories, and had found something important – Stan just needed Ford to complete and confirm the information. And Stan felt in his bones that his brother would do so, and thus that this "Cipher Wheel" theory would hold. So... that basically meant he was left with no choice but to save Gideon Gleeful too, if he was still out there.

"Alright, then," Stan commanded the other survivors. "Wendy, Soos, Mabel, you're coming with me. The others will guard the Mystery Shack and help any survivors who might come across here. But be careful. When we get back, we'll be at least two men stronger."

The small crowd started to mumble; one voice, a girl's voice, shouted, "Be careful!"

It was Pacifica; her blonde hair was messy and her face showed no sign of make-up as she stepped forward. "Mabel," she said, "I hope you'll find your brother."

"Of course I will," Mabel smiled and winked at Pacifica. "And when we get back, we'll be CANCELLING THE WEIRDPOCALYPSE!"

The small crowd responded with a loud cheer. Bill wasn't going to win this one.

As they left the Mystery Shack, Stan instantly began to work on a plan.

"Okay, kids," he said, "this is how we're going to do this: there are still plenty of people on the run from those eyeball-bat-things, right?"

"Yeah," Wendy nodded. "It's actually pretty surprising how many people apparently still haven't been captured... It's been three days. You'd expect the town to be empty by now."

Stan grinned. "We've just got to find four people who are getting captured by those eye-bats and then hang on to their bodies as they get taken to Bill's lair," he said. "That way, we'll get in there without being seen."

"Um..." Soos mumbled doubtingly. "Is that really fair to those people?"

Stan shrugged. "Maybe not," he said, "but this time, at least I'll be exploiting people for a good cause. We'll have them saved within a day if everything goes according to plan."

Wendy punched her hand into her fist. "Seems like a good plan to me," she said. "Let's go."

The four carefully snuck around town, trying to find survivors. Luckily, it didn't last long until they did, because apparently, there still had to be people that were dumb enough to go outside.

Four eye-bats conveniently took four people at once, allowing Stan, Mabel, Wendy and Soos to hop on. Stan at first tried to help Mabel get on, but quickly jumped on to another human-statue as soon as he saw Mabel was doing just fine with her grappling hook.

Everything went perfectly according to plan; the eye-bats were taking the four statues to Bill's lair, where the four heroes would be able to save Dipper – and Ford, of course.

"Bill won't know what's coming to him," Mabel said quietly.

Inside the pyramid, things were going exactly the way Bill wanted them to go; two of his most dangerous opponents had been wiped off the map, and the preparations to take Weirdmageddon world-wide were near completion.

Sure, the Shooting Star was still out there, as was Stan Pines... but what were they really going to do against him?

When they'd be coming, Bill would be ready for them.

 _"Guys, cut it out,"_ Bill commanded his friends; they seemed to get a kick out of harassing Dipper. The boy had retreated all the way to the back of the pink bubble he was trapped in, but that didn't keep the monsters from bullying him. They had even used the bubble as a beach ball earlier - until Bill, though more or less amused by the sight, had stepped in and stopped his friends.

"Come on, Bill," Pyronica complained. "What fun is there in keeping him as a pet if we can't play with him?"

 _"We need to mentally prepare him,"_ Bill said. _"He's still got to complete his half of our deal - he's of no use to us if he hates us."_

"Then I guess I'll never be of any use for you."

Bill turned toward the bubble. _"Oh?"_ he said.

"You heard me, Bill," Dipper said, suddenly standing up. "I already hate you. But I believe that isn't coming as a surprise to you, is it?"

Bill waved his hand, raising the bubble to his level. _"No,"_ he said. _"It isn't. But trust me, Pine Tree, you will be of perfect use to me eventually. I'm just waiting for the right moment."_

Dipper turned his back on Bill and sat back down. "Keep waiting, Bill."

"I guess we don't necessarily have to wait..." Bill said, grabbing a drinking glass and Ford's golden statue - using Ford to tap against the glass.

 _"My dear friends,"_ Bill announced. _"It's time to take Weirdmageddon WORLD WIDE!"_

"What!?" Dipper shouted, jumping up - but it was already too late. Cheering loudly, Bill and his mob of friends left the pyramid - to take Weirdmageddon to outside Gravity Falls, leaving Dipper and Ford behind.

Dipper felt his heartbeat rising. If this apocalypse spread anywhere outside Gravity Falls, Bill would become unstoppable. He began to punch the walls of the bubble that kept him trapped, determined to break free - but with no such luck, unfortunately.

"I'm sorry, Mabel," Dipper said. "We're not going to win this one."

"Think again, bro-bro!"

The statues were brought in just as Bill and company left the pyramid, lowering the risk for the four to be discovered, but they had to wait with making themselves known until they could be sure Bill and his friends were gone.

"Mabel!" Dipper shouted. "Grunkle Stan! Wendy! Soos!"

"Hey, kid," Stan said. "It's good to see you're okay." He looked around for Ford, and shuddered when he saw his brother standing on Bill's throne, frozen in his golden state.

"Let's break your bubble," Mabel said to Dipper as she stood in front of Dipper's bubble, raising her grappling hook in the air. "Stand back!"

She didn't have to tell Dipper twice. He jumped back, just as the hook hit the bubble - causing it to pop eventually. "Ouch!" Dippe grunted, as he made contact with the floor.

"Dipper!" Mabel shouted, dropping to the floor and flinging her arms around her brother, basically slam-dunking his pine-tree cap back on his head.

"Hey Mabel," Dipper laughed, one arm holding her, the other adjusting the cap. But his laugh quickly died out as he lifted up the brim of the hat so he could look over his sister's shoulder.

Bill had come back.

"Oh crap," Stan mumbled. "Not good."

 _"Well, well, well, well, well, well, well,"_ Bill said mockingly. _"Look at this. The Pines family's all rounded-up."_ He then looked at the Ford statue that was standing on his throne, and said, _"Let's add a bit of extra flair to the party, shall we?"_

He pointed at the statue, instantly unfreezing it.

Ford fell to his knees; it took a few moments for him to realise where he was - but all it really took, was his brother's voice.

"FORD!" Stan shouted from below.

"...Stan?" Ford mumbled, slowly getting up, but Bill decided to give him a hand - by lifting him up in the air.

 _"Why, hello, Sixer!"_ Bill said. _"I'm glad you could make it out of retirement to tell me_ why I can't leave Gravity Falls _?"_ Bill's voice became scarily threatening mid-sentence.

Ford shrugged. "Why should I know why you can't leave?" he said. "It's not like I know everything about this Weirdpocalypse... it's _your_ \- er, _party_."

 _"I see..."_ Bill said. _"Stanford Pines, you're as useless as ever."_

Bill dropped Ford, who quickly made his way down to his family. "Stan," he breathed as he stood in front of his brother.

"Save it," he said. "You can... _thank me_ when we get back to the Mystery Shack." Stan really tried to make clear that he was finally expecting a thank you from his brother, but knowing Ford, he still wouldn't get one.

Bill, however, seemed rather amused. _"When you get back?"_ he said mockingly. _"Who said I was going to let you go home?"_

Bill's friends suddenly started closing in on the six heroes; Mabel quickly pulled her brother to his feet and the two both joined their grunkles.

"Bill," Dipper said warningly. "Don't do this!"

 _"Why not, Dipper?"_ Bill said. _"Don't you want to have a little... fun? This is a party, after all!"_

Pacifier punched at Stan, who quickly dodged the attack. Was Bill really going to let his friends kill them?

"BILL!" Dipper yelled. "REMEMBER OUR DEAL!"

Both Bill and his friends ignored Dipper, but proceeded to attack the group of six, who were forced to either dodge or fight back – until Dipper yelled, "BILL, OUR DEAL IS OFF!"

All monsters, knowing what kind of deal Dipper and Bill had made (although honestly, Dipper didn't quite know), gasped in surprise. "Bill!" Pyronica shouted. "Can I eat him now?"

 _"No,"_ Bill snapped at her. _"So, Pine Tree,"_ he said, _"you think you can just_ call off _our deal, huh?"_

"I don't just think I can," Dipper said, "I _know_ I can. Our deal said that I'd stay with you and Mabel – or any of my friends and family, for that matter - wouldn't be harmed," he said, while walking away from the monsters together with his family. "And you and your friends just blew that two seconds ago. The deal is off!"

 _"Oh, really?"_ Bill said, cracking his knuckles. _"Sorry kid, but if you would've listened to what I said when you made that deal, you would've heard what I said! YOU'RE STILL MY PUPPET!"_

Bill stretched his arms, unleashing thin, blue threads from his hands as if he was a spider spinning a web.

Dipper didn't notice until the cords had already wrapped themselves tightly around his arms and legs, but by then it was too late; Bill was pulling firmly at the strings, pulling Dipper in the air like a marionette.

"MABEL!" Dipper cried.

"DIPPER!" Mabel cried back and tried jumping at him. But it was too late. Dipper was at Bill's mercy; the demon was pulling his strings now.

Literally.

"BILL!" Ford bellowed. "LET HIM GO! NOW!"

 _"No-no-no,"_ Bill laughed. _"I've got a much better idea. If I can't get you to join me, I'll go for second best. And that just so happens to be this kid!"_

The strings around Dipper's limbs glowed. His eyes popped open, revealing that those too had an eerie blue glow – before turning into eyes that were scarily similar to Bill's.

The strings vanished, and Dipper remained floating in the air; a creepy grin crept up around the twelve-year-old's lips. "Wow," he breathed. "I feel so... powerful."

 _"That's because you're one of us now, kid,"_ Bill said. _"You like it?"_

"Yeah," Dipper said, looking at Bill, "I do."

 _"Well, then,"_ Bill rejoiced, _"that means you've held up your part of the deal, Pine Tree!"_

"Wait," Mabel cried. "What?"

 _"'One puppet seems like a small price to pay to save your sister',"_ Bill repeated himself mockingly. _"That's what I said. That's the deal we made. I got my puppet back, so Dipper held up his part of the deal, and I did mine. I freed you from the bubble, remember, Shooting Star?"_

Wendy shook her head. "Messed up, man."

Mabel stared at her brother. "I – I don't understand," she said. "Dipper? Are you okay?"

"Better than ever, Mabel," Dipper grinned. "You have no idea how great this actually feels."

"DIPPER!" Mabel cried. "You can't join Bill! You can't!"

"Yeah, man! Don't do this to us!" Soos shouted. "We need you!"

Dipper laughed. "Oh, but I think I can," he said, taking off his cap. He looked at it for a brief second before tossing it back to his sister. "Here," he said. "Keep it. I have no need for it anymore. You have no idea how great it feels to finally have a sense of confidence - of _power_."

 _"That's right,"_ Bill laughed, and squinted his eye at Ford. _"You lose, Sixer. Game, set, match."_

"Not if I have anything to say about this," Ford said, stepping forward. "Dipper, listen to me."

"Give me _one_ good reason why I should," Dipper said. "Because of you this whole problem _began_ , anyway. If Mabel just would've pressed that button, none of this would've ever had to happen."

Ford felt his throat closing up. "That's not him talking, grunkle," Mabel whispered. "Ignore it."

Ford looked at his niece, then at his nephew. "Mabel is right. This isn't you, Dipper."

Dipper shrugged. "Maybe it is. Sometimes, people just aren't what they seem to be on the outside.

I didn't understand Bill before. But now he's shared some of his power with me, I do."

Ford shook his head. "Dipper, listen to me. You can't do this. We're your family, your friends."

Dipper snorted. "You talk as if you know even the slightest thing about family, Ford," he said, "while in reality, you don't. You've been treating your brother like garbage for the past _thirty_ years, and even after he _dedicated_ his life to saving you, you continue to do so. And you think _you've_ got the right to lecture _me_ about family?"

Ford swallowed. "You're right," he said. "I've been a jerk. And..." he looked back at his brother... "I was wrong. I didn't have the right to be angry with you."

Stan smiled at his brother. "It's okay," he said. "I'd be pretty pissed too, if my future would've been ruined by some dumb kid."

"No, Stan," Ford said, "it's not okay. I can see it in your eyes. And someday, I promise, I'll make it up to you."

 _"Blah, blah, blah, family drama,"_ Bill sighed. _"Dipper, are we done here? I've got business to attend to."_

"No," Ford said, "we're not."

"He wasn't asking you, Ford," Dipper said.

"I know," Ford said, "but you've got to listen to me, Dipper. Do not choose power over your sister. I did, I fell for his tricks, his flattery... And look where it's got me. I don't want you to end up like me: bitter and alone for thirty years. I want you to have a family, and to grow up with them. Don't become like me, Dipper.

I was wrong. All these years. And now I want you to make the right choice."

Something changed in Dipper's expression. His eyes shifted from Ford to Stan to Mabel. "Dipper, please," he heard his sister say.  
Dipper shook his head. "You're right," he said. "I'm sorry."

Dipper's eyes returned to normal as he landed on the floor. "I was being stupid," he said, as he took his cap back from his sister. "Awkward sibling hug?"  
Mabel smiled at him. "Sincere sibling hug," she said.

Bill, however, wasn't amused. _"So... this is how we're going to play, huh?"_ he hissed. _"The second Pines to refuse my power. You could've been so great, Dipper. But... I'm afraid we'll have to say goodbye here."_

It didn't take long before Dipper got his message; Bill's monster mob was slowly closing in on them again.

"Guys," Dipper yelped, "RUN!"

"TO WHERE!?" Wendy shouted.

"Out the door!" Dipper replied, as he shot thriugh Keyhole's hole, leaving the demon staring at him offendedly.

"That's ridiculous, Dipper!" Ford shouted. "The pyramid's at least eight feet up in the sky!"

"We'll just have to take a leap of faith!" Dipper yelled back. "Trust me!"

"I trust you, Dipper!" Mabel said. The others nodded at him.

"Alright then..." Dipper said, as they came closer to the hole the Time-Police had blown in the pyramid. "Here goes!"

The six heroes all jumped out at once; for some reason, they landed safely – in the treetops.

"Well, I guess we got lucky," Stan said. "We've got to climb down and get back to the Mystery Shack. Now!"

"Oh, that's right," Ford said. "The Anti-Bill protection is still active. We'll be safe there!"

They quickly climbed down the tree and returned to the Shack – surprisingly enough, Bill didn't send anyone to chase them, which mildly worried Ford.

As they returned inside the Shack, they were greeted by the same people as before.

"Thank goodness you made it back safely," Pacifica said. "How did you make it out of there?"

"Trust me, Pacifica," Dipper said, "I honestly have no idea. But one thing I do know is that Bill is not happy."

"Who cares?" Wendy said. "He'll never be happy with us... that's for sure."

"Indeed," Stan agreed. "But... what about you said earlier, Mabel?"

"Oh, that's right," Mabel said. "With Dipper and Ford back, our gang is complete!" she said.

"Bill is going to lose," Dipper said. "He wants us to be afraid. He wants us to hide; but today, we proved to him that we won't follow his rules. Let's take the fight to him! WE ARE CANCELLING THE WEIRDPOCALYPSE!"

His friends responded with a loud, confident cheer. Although no one knew for sure how to defeat Bill, with Ford they'd sure be soon to find out.

They were cancelling the Weirdpocalypse and taking back Gravity Falls. And nothing was going to stop them.


End file.
